The last Jedi had me torn in a way that no Star Wars film had done before.
During the screening I felt, dare I say it...bored and confused. I walked out of the cinema not wholeheartedly liking it the way in which I did The force awakens. Maybe the rose tinted glasses of The force awakens being such a return to form following the derailment of episodes I to III made the film out to be better than what it actually was. But I couldn't help but feel that The last Jedi wasn't quite right and that the experience as a whole felt uneven.
Let's start with the obvious and the one thing that I feel everybody can agree on. The last Jedi is not what you expect it to be. At all.
Given that The force awakens was by all intents and purposes a complete retread of 1977's A new hope, much seemed to be pointing towards The last Jedi following in the footsteps of The Empire strikes back. And whilst there are elements of the story which bear similarities to the retrospectively critically acclaimed 1980 sequel, The last Jedi is far from a retread. It clearly draws from The empire strikes back, Return of the Jedi and even Rogue one, but it still manages to emerge as its own thing entirely.
Director Rian Johnson has fused different elements from old and new to create something that feels wholly new overall. Where-as The force awakens seemed too afraid to subvert many Star Wars tropes and do anything different, The last Jedi revels in being able to pick apart what we know and offer new interpretations of things that previous films had seemingly canonised. But in doing so it also re-writes the rules and the lore of Star Wars. Some for the better. Some for the worse. Some in ways which make no sense and serve no purpose other than to make things work for the narrative.
But this doesn't mean that The last Jedi doesn't feel Star Wars-ey. It does. Through and through. But it offers a different take of what a Star Wars film could be and sets a framework of where future films could go. This is refreshing to see. Especially in a film franchise where I didn't think Disney nor Lucasfilm would be willing to take such risks. Between The last Jedi and Thor: Ragnarok, it's great to see Disney aren't inflexible with their bread and butter money makers and that they're open to trying new things. Even if it means that they get it wrong. Because The last Jedi gets a lot wrong...and it's okay that it does.
Please note that you are now about to light-speed your way into spoiler territory.
The theme of The last Jedi is that of which every Star Wars film (even those despised prequels) is based around: loss, sacrifice and hope. But the problem with the sacrifices made across this film is that whilst they are high numerically, they're lacking emotionally. There's no loss in this film that hits you the same way as Han's death in The force awakens or Darth Vader's passing in Return of the Jedi. And the one BIG death that we do get is nullified by the fact that you know they'll be back in the next film as a Force ghost. But that's by no fault of this film itself. It's just a Star Wars thing. There are a couple of fake out deaths that The last Jedi throws at you. And whilst in neither instance I would have been happy, they would have made sense and anchored the message of loss, sacrifice and hope much harder.
The last Jedi opens on the main Resistance star ship which has run into a First order Dreadnought, which goes about as badly as you possibly think it would. The intro to The last Jedi sets the tone for the whole entire film in multiple ways. One, it prepares you to get used to seeing lots of dying. The body count in Rogue one was serious. But within the first 30 minutes, The last Jedi enters, walks up to Rogue one dressed in Sith black and says 'Hold my lightsaber scythe' and kills off thousands. It also prepares you to unravel everything you knew about the Force and how it works, as well as preparing you to sit through two and a half hours of watching characters make really, really bad decisions across a story which blasts holes in itself as it answers questions posed by The force awakens, drops sub-plots from The force awakens and contradicts The force awakens.
The last Jedi is not trying to be The force awakens. Not for a minute.
The force awakens was very deep rooted in nostalgia. Rey, Finn and Poe felt like supporting characters to Han, Chewie and Leia. This time around, despite Luke being such a key figure in this film, it's very much the new characters who drive much of this story. Luke and Leia are torch passers, which raises a tonne of questions in terms of what's in store for episode IX - given how the story ends and the unfortunate passing of Carrie Fisher. This is an exciting proposition for episode IX, given that it will officially be the first film in the Skywalker saga which isn't based around a Skywalker, or so we're led to believe. But what you realise about our new generation of heroes who are essentially Luke, Leia and Han in amalgamated, crossed-over forms, is that they're not as interesting as they initially seemed.
In fact, very few of the returning characters from The force awakens or those who are new in The last Jedi are given much purpose. We're just expected to sympathise with these characters and accept them, without any real sense of who they are, and this is what The last Jedi does in regards to everything. It just wants you to accept what it throws at you, even if it doesn't make any real sense and this is what causes such dissonance within the story.
Rey still feels like an empty vessel to me. Much of her cool factor stems from her raw and untapped power. But the film never really goes into why Rey is so strong with the force and how she's able to tap into it so quickly and swing a lightsaber like a pro, mere hours after meeting Luke who barely even trains her. There is a clumsy explanation about 'balance to the Force' given at some point in this film, but it's so badly explained; even for somebody like me who is far from an expert in Star Wars lore.
Kylo Ren still feels under-baked, but he comes off much better here than he did in The force awakens, because you realise the full potential of him as a character and he becomes so much more than a Darth Vader wannabe; something which the film acknowledges via a read for filth from Snoke. You feel some level of empathy towards him and truly see how damaged of a soul he is. Snoke isn't just a leader to Kylo, and Kylo isn't just an apprentice. It's all some Father complex mess, with Kylo on the receiving end of what could easily be viewed as an abusive relationship. Kylo is looking for the father figure that he felt that he had lost in Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, and is therefore trying to find this in Snoke, who full well knows this and uses it to his advantage. You also see that Kylo hasn't completely turned to the dark side, and that despite the act of killing his own father, there is a love that he has for his mother which prevents him from being able to do the same to her.
Rey and Kylo feel incomplete as characters on their own, but together they are quite compelling. So it's just as well that they spend much of the film tethered. I was surprised by how much these characters interacted with each other throughout. I went into The last Jedi expecting the main partnership and pairing to be that of Rey and Luke, but it turns out to be Rey and Kylo. It's an interesting spin on a relationship that I never thought the film would explore in this manner unless it turned out that they were related; which had been a strong theory. The two of them spend much of the film connecting and being able to converse through the Force. It's the first time that we see Kylo truly opening up to someone. And when you think about it, despite her friendship with Finn, the people that Rey truly seemed to connect with on a deeper level were Han and Leia in a subtle unspoken manner, which lends itself to her seeing Kylo much like a brother. Their long distance conversations are something which build over the course of the film until they finally meet face-to-face, leading up to a moment of not only shock and surprise, but a pretty thrilling (if sloppily choreographed) fight scene.
Rey entertaining these conversations with Kylo and potentially putting herself and Luke in danger is incredibly reckless. But it speaks to the purity of her character and the amount of faith she's willing to put in people based on her own wishes and desires. She projects much of the same faith in Kylo that she placed in her parents returning to her, and she learns the dangers of this the hard way. But you also see how susceptible Rey could be to turning to the dark side.
Never have we seen the conflict of light and dark be so intertwined and ambiguous. A very thin line is drawn between Rey turning over to the dark side and Kylo returning to the light. The last Jedi presents a much more honest and representative picture of light and dark, where-as in previous films it was very stark that 'good is good and bad is bad' and that there is no in-between. The last Jedi is like 'Fuck all that black and white shit' and smears it all in a vast smattering of grey, which works so much better, because it completely trivialises the notion that all it takes is one act to make somebody turn one way or the other.
The story focus is so heavily placed on Rey and Kylo, that it seems like Rian Johnson forgot to write the other characters into it. As a result, they all feel like afterthoughts to the point where if you take them out of the story, everything would more or less transpire in the same way.
Finn is reduced to nothing but a side-quester in one of the films weaker moments, across an act at a Casino which grinds the film to a complete halt. Finn had such an interesting story in The force awakens; being a Stormtrooper of the First order who ends up fighting for the Resistance and gets to wield a lightsaber...twice! He was a Star Wars fans' dream character who got to do it all, and the cherry on top (at least for me) was that he was black. But in The last Jedi Finn contributes very little to...well...anything. His defining moment in this film comes during a scene towards the end where my heart was in my mouth and I thought 'YA'LL BEST NOT GO THERE!'. But only because of the severity of the action that Finn takes and because it's the only notable thing that he does in the whole damn film. It's a shame that a character who pretty much defined The force awakens and is played by such a charismatic and likeable actor got sidelined so categorically here.
Fighter pilot Poe is given more screen-time, but unfortunately, he's grounded for the majority of the film. A huge mistake for a character who ain't shit unless he's flying something, and I don't care how fine Oscar Isaac is. He should be flying ships and shooting up some shit. Not walking around some ship with a walkie-talkie. His hot hotheadedness comes off as grating and unfounded, especially in lieu of his selfishness in the opening of the film costing so many their lives. Poe should have been taking a damn seat in a docked X-Wing.
Then there's BB-8. I would argue how the hell a droid managed to be more relevant and get better written scenes than 80% of the characters in this movie, but Rogue one did the same thing with K-2SO. BB-8 scene steals just as he did before. He not only saves the day on multiple occasions, but he spends a fair amount of time wandering off on his own little adventures, which unfortunately you don't get to see. You forget all about him, and then right at that point where you're like 'Shit, what happened to BB-8!?' he turns up and saves the day / rescues everybody / provides the getaway vehicle / unlocks a door, etc. If there was any question concerning BB-8 being a complete character unto himself in The force awakens, all doubt is hereby void. Bitch, R2-D-WHO!?
Now, let's talk about Leia. In the wake of Carrie Fisher's death, Leia holds much more weight in this movie than she may have done otherwise. So, you're often on the edge of your seat in every scene which features her, to see what they are going to do with her character and how they are going to write her out of the story. There is a moment in this film where she doesn't so much cheat death as she does play Superman Jesus (which is a WHOLE other thing in itself and opens a can of worms that...I just can't). It really fucks with you knowing that Carrie has actually passed and makes you wonder how many conversations were had in regards to keeping the scene of her being 'killed' in the film or cutting it. What's great about Leia here is that every key character interacts with her in some way and you get to see Leia's heart, which in retrospect of Carrie's passing, is also reflective of hers. Her scene with Luke is short and few words are spoken. But it's a beautiful moment because its so real. Leia somehow manages to soften and round out characters who appear to be utter cunts i.e Poe and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (I'll get to her).
Luke Skywalker is great in this movie, becoming a cross between old Obi-Wan and Yoda. He is so different to the Luke we knew before, and yet you probably couldn't imagine him any other way. He's scared, he's uncertain and he is riddled with guilt. But he's still a bad ass with an unwavering sense of what's right. Even if doing what's right means turning his back on his beliefs and everything that he once held dear.
But as great as Luke's character is in this film, it completely fractures his relationship with Rey and Kylo. He doesn't actually train Rey at all, and spends most of his time avoiding her, telling her she's wrong and lying to her. And we're never given the full low down of the part that Luke played in the creation of Kylo Ren. This is glossed over across 3 flashbacks told from varied perspectives. I'm all for mystery, enigma and things being left to the imagination. But to get 6 films in total chronicling the rise and fall of the Skywalker's and then a new trilogy which features a wannabe successor to Darth Vader who is who he is because of Luke, we should have gotten more than what we were given here. Either Disney are really trying to have us forget about these original characters. Or there are plans to have Kylo's backstory and Rey's prodigious Jedi abilities told in some other film, a book, a game: something that allows Disney to drag this shit out and make money out of it.
Whilst I was initially sceptical of Luke and Leia's return, they're both great in this. There's a warmth that you feel when you see them on screen.
Luke, Leia and Han all came into this new story with regrets, mistakes and losses and they carried it with them in every scene and interaction. Each of them has lost something dear and are reminders that now matter how old you are or where you are in life, you're never exempt from continuing to lose what's dear to you. It's a lesson that Star Wars has always taught, but The last Jedi really brings it home. I just wish that feeling of loss was cascaded down to the new generation of characters, so that they feel the full impact of what they're a part of and fighting for. Because with the exception of Rey; the likes of Finn, Poe and a bunch of the other characters seem to be in it for the fun.
Phasma. Gurl. Sidelined and under utilised yet again. The time it will take you to read this paragraph about her inclusion or lack thereof in this film will be longer than the duration of time of which Phasma appears on-screen in The force awakens and The last Jedi combined. I honestly don't see the point in her character other than Disney being able to say 'That big Brienne of Tarth bitch from Game of Thrones is in one of our films'. It's such a shame, because I adore Gwendoline Christie. Phasma is such a fucking bad ass looking character. And the fact that she's a high ranked bulletproof Stormtrooper, and a female one at that, just makes her even more bad ass. But they did absolutely nothing with her. Both she and Finn have a little scuffle, but it's not the defining moment it should have been. Visually it's gorgeous, due to it taking place in a burning Tie fighter hanger and Phasma's highly reflective armour. But the fight scene between Finn and FN-2199 (aka TR-8R) in The Force awakens was much more memorable. Somewhat of a story could have been created between Finn and Phasma, much akin to that of Snoke and Kylo, where she's a Mother figure to Finn in a really twisted sense, to give their fight and interactions more weight. Especially given the amazing chemistry that John Boyega and Gwendoline Christie have off screen. But it's not that deep.
Phasma is literally the new generation's Boba Fett. Great character. Under used. Given a rubbish death. Although I don't think the bitch is actually dead.
I want somebody to tell me what the fucking point in Snoke was. I found it difficult to take him seriously because he was sat wearing a dress much like one that Beyoncé had posted on her Instagram the same week the film had released. But when he got killed off after only a couple of scenes, all credibility for Snoke went straight into an airlock. You mean to tell me some all powerful man who is able to manipulate the Force to such a great extent could not sense a lightsaber spinning on the arm rest beside him? Bitch, please. I feel that Snoke served no purpose other than giving Andy Serkis another voice acting / mo-cap gig. Why bother with his character if he was going to be made to be so disposable? You discover as much about Snoke in The last Jedi as you did in The force awakens. Which is nothing. He also does about as much in The last Jedi as he did in The force awakens. Which is also nothing.
The thought of Kylo now being the Supreme leader is ridiculous because he's not fully trained and got his ass handed to him by a girl who only realised she was one with the Force 35 minutes before he fought her. But this will make for a potentially amazing story in episode IX, because what are the repercussions of and / or for a Supreme leader whom is still in conflict between the light and the dark and is not fully trained?
The new characters in this film felt so pointless to me, because their roles could have been fulfilled by existing characters.
Jurassic Park woman aka Laura Dern aka Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo feels pointless. I was off-put by her character design, because she looked so out of place in comparison to the others purely because of her purple hair. She looked like a young Dame Edna or a dodgy cosplayer. Her character does under-go a some-what of a surprising arc, which leads up to what is one of the most beautiful pieces of cinematography in the film, and possibly the entire Star Wars series. But her character could have been any random ass person. Or it could have just been Leia.
New girl Rose is propositioned as the heart of the movie, with a strong sense of justice. But her character never does enough for this to have enough gravitas. Rose's character isn't helped by being tied to the worst part of the movie (the Casino side quest). Finn and Rose don't appear to have much chemistry, but we're supposed to buy into her falling in love with him - despite the film being in quasi real time and these two only spending a couple of hours together. It's a real shame. Because off screen, John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran have great chemistry, but this never ignites on-screen. It saddened me a little, because we have a black and a Vietnamese actor starring in one of the biggest movie franchises in existence, being wasted in a section of the movie that we could have done without. I hope that J.J Abrams is able to do more with them either together or separately in episode IX, because representation definitely matters and Kelly Marie Tran is an absolute sweetheart.
The last Jedi attempts to throw a social conscious subplot into the mix. Something that Star Wars has never really done so blatantly before. Given the climate of today, this isn't surprising. The film tries to make a note of child abuse, slavery, animal cruelty and the extortion of the poor. But it's done in such a flash-in-the-pan type of way, all within the weakest act of the film where you're more than likely paying the least amount of attention. Therefore, Rose's monologue about corruption and her upbringing falls flat and feels irrelevant, when it should have been poignant and felt wholly relevant. Especially when you think about the impact that upbringing and parent figures has had across many of the heroes of this story: Rey's life on Jakku when we first meet her, Anakin's childhood, Finn's and even Kylo's relationship with Snoke. But the film doesn't make Rose's life or what she and Finn see on Canto Bight feel overarching or intertwined within the lives of the other characters, when it would have made more sense for this to be the case. Instead it only serves to separate Rose further from the other characters and draw a box around the whole Canto Bight act to a point where it barely feels like it's connected to any other part of the film. It's like they just slapped a scene from the Star Wars prequels and The fifth element in the middle of the film in a bid to make it exciting and make the universe feel bigger, but it did the complete opposite.
Taking significant moments and embedding them in either badly paced scenes, dismissing them as though they are nothing, or just throwing them at you to just accept them, because... *shrug* is something that The last Jedi does often.
The beats of poignant moments, key reveals and revelations don't feel as impactful as they should. With The force awakens I vividly remember the moment when Rey flew the Millennium falcon. When Rey Force mind read Kylo. When she held a lightsaber for the first time. When Han Solo was killed. Even the smaller moments such as when BB-8 gave a thumbs up with his mini blowtorch. Each of these moments were so memorable and punctuated brilliantly throughout the film. The last Jedi doesn't always frame all of these moments in the same way, which is crazy, because there are enough of them. I left the screening with the film fragmented in my mind; trying to piece together what I had seen, because so much of it felt so all over the place and the tonal shifts felt so drastic. I can imagine The last Jedi being a film which takes on a life of its own when it's home released, because there is a lot that could easily be missed upon a first viewing and it's probably the one Star Wars film which leaves you with the most questions. For this reason, I had to watch it twice and it was definitely more enjoyable the second time around.
The moments which work in this film, really do work. The cinematography is gorgeous. Each location looks rich, vivid and memorable. The Casino city of Canto Bight is the most uninspired due to it looking like Monte Carlo with hovercrafts. But the fact I can even remember that from one of the films' shittiest moments means something. The planet Crait is one of the most gorgeous planets I have ever seen in a Star Wars film. The contrast of white salt with red minerals is so beautifully vivid. Visually, The last Jedi delivers and has a visual cadence which is very different to that of The force awakens in the best possible ways. Where The force awakens was all about lighting, The last Jedi is all about locale colour and grading, which tell stories within themselves and help each act and setup feel more distinct and memorable than what actually happens within them. Visually it reminded me a lot of Return of the Jedi.
The score in this film wasn't as pronounced as it's been in any of the other Star Wars films. In fact, I barely noticed it. I'm not sure whether it's a case of the score not being that strong or the pacing of the film and the tonal shifts causing the music to get lost. But the music didn't stand out to me on a first viewing, despite being a constant throughout the entire film. There are lots of classic themes from A new hope which return though, which is a nice touch.
The last Jedi is not perfect, which is fine. A film is allowed to not be perfect. I certainly didn't go into this expecting it to be. But I was surprised, both pleasantly and unpleasantly. The pacing of the film feels off, and the humour is very hit and miss in comparison to The force awakens, which I felt got the balance of humour just right. There are some hilarious moments in this film which are genuinely funny and had the theatre erupt into laughter. But there were some moments where the punch lines didn't land at all and these moments of supposed humour often came at the wrong times. I'd watched The last Jedi in a back-to-back screening with The force awakens, and every punch line in the latter landed and got laughs, despite every single one of us in the screening having watched it before. In The last Jedi screening, there were awkward moments where some laughed, some didn't or somebody just coughed.
The one thing that The last Jedi does (which surprised the absolute fuck out of me), is wrap things up. Kinda. A little bit. It could have cliff-hung and deliberately left a myriad of ties frayed to be set up in episode IX, but it doesn't. The film actually ends and feels relatively self-contained. There are of course still gaping holes in the story (and the lore), but it'd take more than one film to clear these up, and in some instances it may be better if they're left alone. So it will be interesting to see what approach is taken with the J.J Abrams helmed sequel which is due in 2019, and if many of these characters will be made to face the repercussions of their actions. It will also be interesting to see if J.J extends the courtesy of fleshing out the sub plots that Rian placed in this film, given that he pretty much disregarded those of which were raised in The force awakens (i.e Snoke training Kylo, The knights of Ren, that flashback Rey had in the rain, Luke actually training Rey).
I don't love The last Jedi and I went into it wanting to and expecting to. But I imagine it will be a film that I will like more upon repeated watches, because there are great moments in this film that I do love, I admire the bravery taken with certain elements of the story and the lore, and I'd watch this every now and again just for the cinematography alone.
My issues with this film weren't anything to do with the lore seemingly changing. It was mainly down to how off the pacing was and that there were too many moments in this film where I was genuinely bored. The opening and the final act are thrilling. But there is far too much time dedicated to filler and new characters that we just didn't need. There are too many slogs in-between the good bits, which left more of an impression on me than the good bits themselves.
There is a great story at the heart of The last Jedi. But it's shoved in-between one too nonsensical sub-plots and some characters getting disproportionate amounts of screen-time and others not getting enough. Whilst I don't love The last Jedi as a film, I love that it wasn't trying to be like any other Star Wars flick and that Rian Johnson went to lengths to make it its own thing; and to that end, it succeeds.
The last Jedi may be one of the most divisive Star Wars films, but it's also one of the bravest and needle moving. There is so much that's explored in this movie in regards to Jedi and the Force, which raises questions about things that we'd assumed were unwavering; and I loved this. It's amazing that this film is able to take something that seemed so set in stone and definitive for 40 years and somehow break it apart and not only make you question it, but present a new point of view, which for the most part, feels logical and makes sense in the grand scheme of what has transpired in the lives of these characters. It makes complete sense that Luke would see the Jedi as problematic given what happened to his father and his nephew. How the Force is presented however, is a double edged sword. Whilst presenting it in new ways is refreshing, it does poke holes in literally every Star Wars movie to date. Rian Johnson may have done this for the sake of his new Star Wars trilogy. But either way, it felt right to me. It sets episode IX up to be whatever it wants to be, which will either give J.J Abrams an easy run or the most difficult of tasks. But the one thing you could never say that The last Jedi does is play it safe.
Verdict: For better, for worse or just because. Go see it.